The British Council has been pioneering to build a strong community and professional network of creative businesses, through the reward programme Young Creative Entrepreneur Awards. The YCE programme aims to reward innovative work by individuals and nurture emerging enterprises across seven categories – design, music, fashion, screen (film, TV and animation), interactive (software, entertainment, games and social media platforms), performing arts (theatre, dance and “live” art) and publishing.

To build an eco-system to support entrepreneurship with the creative sectors, a half day seminar on Investing in India’s Creative Entrepreneurs is being organised on Friday 9 December from 9.30 am – 2 p.m. at the British Council, New Delhi

The seminar will include the following panel discussions between India and the UK aimed to address and debate the two major issues facing the growth of India’s creative industries. To register email yce.india@in.britishcouncil.org

Does India need an umbrella policy for supporting entrepreneurship within the creative industries?

The session will explore the current parameters of existing policies and governmental interventions and examine the different ways in which policy-making can support the development of the creative industries thereby leading to their recognition as key economic sectors.

What India needs to bridge the gap between creative entrepreneurs and investment opportunities?

Discussion will focus on developing a suitable financial infrastructure for the creative sectors and understanding different models that facilitate creative businesses’ access to capital, why it is considered inherently risky to invest in creative industries (or what makes them uniquely different), explore how different creative businesses are more suited to different types of financial investment and support.

The speakers include:

John Newbigin is a freelance strategist and cultural entrepreneur. He is Chairman of Creative England, a publicly funded agency to support creative businesses, particularly digital media, across England. Other positions he’s held include being Head of Corporate Relations at Channel 4 Television, Special Adviser at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Executive Assistant to David Puttnam, erstwhile Chairman of Enigma Productions Limited. Currently John is the Chairman of Culture24, one of the UK’s leading cultural web publishers and on the board of various arts and educational bodies.

Adarsh Kumar is the founder and CEO of Livelihoods Equity Connect (LEC), an advisory group that seeks to invest in the Indian agricultural sector and promote models connecting small farmers to mainstream markets. Prior to LEC, Adarsh helped establish the All India Artisans and Craftworkers Welfare Association, a membership-based policy research and advocacy body that brings together the private sector, civil society and the government to find innovative solutions to bridging the divide between poor rural producers and mainstream markets. At AIACA, Adarsh served on various Planning Commission working groups to look at ways in which creative and cultural industries can provide more employment to the poor. He holds a bachelors degree in Business Management from GeorgetownUniversity and a Masters Degree in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Adarsh has also been awarded the Echoing Green and Ashoka fellowships for social entrepreneurship.

Rohit Prasad is an Associate Professor of Economics and Chairperson of the Centre for Entrepreneurship at the Management Development Institute Gurgaon. He has a Ph.D. in Economic Theory from SUNY Stony Brook, USA where he had an opportunity to study Game Theory under the Nobel Laureate Professor Robert Aumann. His thesis provides a framework to address questions related to the optimal fiscal and monetary policy choices of a government in a free market. He has worked in the software industry in USA and India in senior management positions before joining MDI Gurgaon. His research interests include the theory of taxation, spectrum policy, ICT for development, and special economic zones. His papers have been published at leading international journals including Telecommunications Policy. He has delivered seminars and talks at Harvard University, the Centre for Game Theory at Stony Brook, India Telecom 2009, Future Com, Brazil 2010, and The Next Billion, Indonesia, 2010. His articles appear regularly in The Economic Times and the Economic and Political Weekly. He recently served on a high powered Committee of the Department of Telecommunications, Government of India to make recommendations on spectrum allocation and pricing in India, and on two Expert Panels for the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to study the value of 2G spectrum.

Aruna Vasudeva, noted journalist was the editor-in-chief of Cinemaya, an influential film magazine established in 1988 devoted exclusively to coverage of Asian Films. It aimed to promote Asian filmmaking internationally and to help Asian national cinemas gain wider international recognition. As an active member of the Indo-French Initiative Forum she contributed to building cooperation between the two countries in the field of cinema and was conferred France’s top cultural award, the Chevalier des Arts et Lettres. She went on to become the director of the annual festival of Asian Cinema, ‘Cinefan’ – that has evoked popular and critical acclaim. In 2006, she was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 8th Cinemanila Film Festival at Manila, Philippines and honoured with the Kalpana Chawla Excellence Award for women in 2007.

Sanmit Ahuja is the Chief Editor of TI Corridors and the Chief Executive of ETI Dynamics Ltd. His key areas of interests include to Emerging markets, globalisation, international trade and investment flows. He holds an Executive MBA degree from London Business School.

Anurag Batra is an entrepreneur, media observer and a journalist rolled into one. He completed his B. Tech in Computer Sciences before joining Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon. He is the Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of exchange4media group which includes exchange4media.com, PITCH, IMPACT, Realty Plus and Franchise Plus. In 2006 he was awarded the “Most Distinguished Alumni of the Decade Award” by MDI, Gurgaon. He is a member of the Sales & Marketing committee of the Delhi Management Association, President of the Franchising Association of India, Northern chapter, on the Executive Committee of the Association of Indian Magazines (AIM) and the Chairman of the Advisory Board of Futuristic Media Communication Centre, a leading Media and Communication School in India.